Gospels In Conflict: John and Thomas - Part 17

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 16 with:

 

(p.69) " Mark, Matthew, and Luke mention Thomas only as one of " the twelve. "

(P.70) John singles him out as " the doubter " --the one who failed to understand

who Jesus is, or what he is saying, and rejected the testimony of the other

disciples. John then tells how the risen Jesus personally appeared to Thomas in

order to rebuke him, and brought him to his knees. From this we might conclude,

as most Christians have for nearly two millennia, that Thomas was a particularly

obtuse and faithless disciple--though many of John's Christian contemporaries

revered Thomas as an extraordinary apostle, entrusted with Jesus' " secret

words. " The scholar Gregory Riley suggests that John portrays Thomas this way

for the practical--and polemical--purpose of deprecating Thomas Christians and

their teaching. [140] According to John, Jesus praises those " who have not seen,

and yet believed " without demanding proof, and rebukes Thomas as " faithless "

because he seeks to verify the truth from his own experience. "

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 2, p. 69-70.

 

Note:

 

[140] In his remarkable monograph 'Resurrection Reconsidered'.

 

Here now, is Part 17.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

Gospels In Conflict: John and Thomas - Part 17

 

(p.70) John offers three anecdotes that impose upon Thomas the image--Doubting

Thomas!--he will have ever afterward in the minds of most Christians. In the

first, Thomas, hearing Jesus say that he is going toward Judea to raise Lazarus

from the dead, does not believe him, and " speaks the desperate words, 'Let us

go, so that we may die with him.' " [141] Thus John pictures Thomas as one who

listens to Jesus in disbelief, imagining that he is merely human, like everyone

else.

 

In the second episode, Jesus, anticipating his death, urges his disciples to

trust in God and in himself, and promises to " prepare a place for you, " and to

show them the way to God, since, as he says, " you know where I am going, and you

know the way.' " [142] Thomas alone, of all the disciples, objects that he knows

nothing of the kind: " Thomas said to him,'...We do not know where you are going.

How can we know the way?' " (p.71) In answer, John's Jesus proclaims to this

ignorant and obtuse disciple what I believe John wants to say to everyone who

fails to understand how unique Jesus is: " Jesus said to [Thomas], 'I am the way,

the truth, and the life; 'no one comes to the Father, except through me.' " [143]

 

In the third episode Jesus even returns after his death to rebuke Thomas. Luke

specifies that, after the crucifixion, the risen Jesus appeared to " the eleven, "

[144] and Matthew agrees that he appeared to " the eleven disciples " [145]--all

but Judas Iscariot--and conferred the power of the holy spirit upon " the

eleven. " But John's account differs. John says instead that " 'Thomas, called

'the twin'...was not with them when Jesus came.' " [146]

 

According to John, the meeting Thomas missed was crucial; for after Jesus

greeted the 'ten' disciples with a blessing, he formally designated them his

apostles: " As the Father has sent me, so send I you. " Then he " breathed upon

them " to convey the power of the holy spirit; and finally he delegated to them

his authority to forgive sins, or to retain them. [147] The implication of the

story is clear: Thomas, having missed this meeting, is not an apostle, has not

received the holy spirit, and lacks the power to forgive sins, which the others

received directly from the risen Christ. Furthermore, when they tell Thomas

about their encounter with Jesus, he answers in the words that mark him

forever--in John's characterization--as Doubting Thomas: " Unless I see the mark

of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails, and my

hand in his side, 'I will not believe'. " A week later, the risen Jesus reappears

and, in this climactic scene, John's Jesus rebukes Thomas for lacking faith and

tells him to believe: " 'Do not be faithless, but believe'. " Finally Thomas,

overwhelmed, capitulates and stammers out the confession, " My Lord and my God! "

[148]

 

For John, this scene is the coup de grace: finally Thomas understands, and Jesus

warns the rest of the chastened disciples: " Have you believed because you have

seen? Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe. " [149] Thus John

warns all his readers that they 'must' believe what they cannot verify for

themselves--namely, the gospel message to which he declares himself a witness

[150]--or face God's wrath. John may have felt some satisfaction writing this

scene; for here he shows Thomas giving up his search for experiential truth--his

" unbelief " --to confess what John sees as the truth of his gospel: the message

would not be lost on Thomas Christians.

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas)

Chapter 2, p. 70-72

Elaine Pagels

Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

 

Notes:

 

[141] John 11:16; see Riley's discussion in 'Resurrection Reconsidered,'

100-180.

 

[142] John 14:3-4.

 

[143] John 14:6.

 

[144] Luke 24:33-36.

 

[145] Matthew 28:10.

 

[146] John 20:24.

 

[147] John 20:19-23.

 

[148] John 20:28.

 

[149] John 20:29.

 

[150] John 21:24-25.